How Important Is Regular Exercise For Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes?

Question:How important is regular exercise for type 1 and type 2 diabetes?

Answer:One of the most important things probably for any of us and certainly for people with diabetes, is exercise. And there's a lot of reasons for that.

Most people who have diabetes have type 2 diabetes, where insulin is produced fairly well by the body, it just doesn't work very effectively. And we know that exercise actual helps the tissues in the body respond better to insulin. As a result of that, people literally can bring their blood sugar down, and improve their diabetes regulation just by physical activity.

We also know that many people with diabetes have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, and both of those will improve very considerably with some physical activity. And the other aspect of that is for all of us going out and getting regular physical activity just makes us feel better, and as part of that, that's how we're going to enjoy life more, and probably be better able to take care of ourselves in general.